Young children frequently insert objects into the female receptacles of electrical outlets while playing. This results in a dangerous situation where serious injury or death could result. A multitude of devices have been developed to attempt to mitigate this danger. One example is the non-conducting two- or three-pronged male adaptor cover which is inserted into the electrical outlet, thereby filling the female receptacles and effectively removing the danger of children inserting objects into the female receptacles. However, this male adaptor is easily removable by a child, thereby diminishing the safety feature. The user of the electrical outlet may also be inconvenienced by the need to always remove the male adaptor to use the electrical outlet and the lack of a convenient place to put the adaptor while using the electrical outlet, since the adaptor itself is almost as dangerous (as a choking hazard) as the female receptacle is a shock hazard. Finally, since the male adaptor needs to be fully removed to use the electrical outlet, the opportunity to forget to re-insert the male adaptor when finished defeats the purpose of the male adaptor. The patent literature is replete with many other attempts to increase the safety of electrical outlets, which bear a large portion of their danger due to their almost inevitable placement near the floor, clearly within the reach of small children.
In the standard electrical outlets used in the United States, the outlet has a cover plate and a pair of female receptacles housed within an outlet box, the cover plate typically being secured to the outlet box by a screw passing through an aperture between the female receptacles. The cover plate itself has a pair of larger apertures through which the female receptacles are completely exposed. This complete exposure is important to properly use the female receptacles, since the prongs on a male plug are not properly engaged with the female receptacle unless the male plug is able to mate in flush relationship with the female receptacle. When this flush mating occurs, apertures at the distal end of the male prongs engage projections inside the female receptacle, and this engagement assists in holding the male plug securely in place. In many prior art devices, flush mating of the male plug with the female receptacles has not been possible because of intervening parts of the safety device. Unless the safety device allows flush mating, the safety device may itself pose as much of a hazard as the unprotected situation it replaces.
Another hazard presented by some safety devices of the prior art is a shock hazard presented by the device itself. To be truly safe, the safety device should have no electrically conductive materials that could provide an electrical short circuit. Again, prior art safety devices contain metallic parts that may break or come loose, presenting a short circuit opportunity.